John Murtha, House speaker-in-waitng Nancy Pelosi’s choice for majority leader, has a bit of history up on the wire. The following is a few seconds of a much longer FBI video from the 1980 Abscam sting, which was devised to catch corrupt lawmakers. In the clip — which is being screened regularly by right-wing cable hosts — Murtha appears to turn down a bribe without exactly shutting the door on possibly accepting later. Murtha wasn’t indicted, although six members of Congress and a senator were eventually convicted of bribery and lesser charges.
